Fundamental problems in brittle fracture: unstable cracks and delayed breaking

Abstract

This presents a short review on two problems where brittle fracture is involved. In the first one, a hot glass plate is subject to a local stress when drowned into a cold bath. In the region of transition between the cold and hot side, large stresses build up, that can be related accurately to the various coefficients typical of the plate material, heat dilation coefficient, heat conductivity, Young's modulus, etc. Thanks to thais, one can compare well the experimental results and the theoretical predictions based on the Griffith criterion for the propagation of a straight crack, and for its instability against an undulating mode. In the other problem, one looks at the delay before a bent 2D crystal breaks: this (very long) delay is interpreted as the time required for homogeneous nucleation of a critical Griffith nucleus in a region of the crystal under extension. Although it agrees fairly well with some experimental data, other experimental facts are required to complicate the model by considering a multistep nucleation process. To cite this article: Y. Pomeau, C. R. Mecanique 330 (2002) 249–257.